Abstract This article aims to test the Gravitational Pull Hypothesis on the imperfective/perfective aspect distinction in the language pairs English-Catalan and French-Catalan. It draws on the corresponding corpora in COVALT. The GPH posits three cognitive causes of translational effects: source or target language salience and connectivity. Different configurations of these causes, or factors, are expected to result in over- or under-representation of target language features. The imperfective/perfective aspect distinction was chosen as a testing ground for the GPH because it is morphologically marked in Catalan and French but not in English. That may give rise to different configurations of factors and, therefore, to different translational effects. It is predicted that the preterite, which conveys perfective aspect in Catalan, will be over-represented in Catalan translations from English as compared to translations from French and to Catalan non-translations. On the other hand, the imperfect, which conveys imperfective aspect, will be under-represented. Results confirm these predictions. For translations from French, both adherence to the patterns observed in Catalan non-translations and over-representation of the preterite are possible outcomes. Results lend support to the second alternative ― over-representation of the preterite. These results highlight the importance of relying on frequency and other sources of evidence when formulating hypotheses in the framework of the GPH. Research from the field of second language acquisition proved particularly significant in this respect.
{"title":"The Gravitational Pull Hypothesis and imperfective/perfective aspect in Catalan translation","authors":"Josep Marco Borillo, Gemma Peña Martínez","doi":"10.1075/lic.00030.bor","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00030.bor","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article aims to test the Gravitational Pull Hypothesis on the imperfective/perfective aspect distinction in the language pairs English-Catalan and French-Catalan. It draws on the corresponding corpora in COVALT. The GPH posits three cognitive causes of translational effects: source or target language salience and connectivity. Different configurations of these causes, or factors, are expected to result in over- or under-representation of target language features. The imperfective/perfective aspect distinction was chosen as a testing ground for the GPH because it is morphologically marked in Catalan and French but not in English. That may give rise to different configurations of factors and, therefore, to different translational effects. It is predicted that the preterite, which conveys perfective aspect in Catalan, will be over-represented in Catalan translations from English as compared to translations from French and to Catalan non-translations. On the other hand, the imperfect, which conveys imperfective aspect, will be under-represented. Results confirm these predictions. For translations from French, both adherence to the patterns observed in Catalan non-translations and over-representation of the preterite are possible outcomes. Results lend support to the second alternative ― over-representation of the preterite. These results highlight the importance of relying on frequency and other sources of evidence when formulating hypotheses in the framework of the GPH. Research from the field of second language acquisition proved particularly significant in this respect.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134973531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper is a contrastive corpus-based study of similative demonstratives, a major means of expressing similarity and ad-hoc categorization. It explores the divergence between the Czech demonstrative takový and its English dictionary equivalent such in their “atypical” – extended, or non-phoric – uses. Through the triangulation of comparable fiction texts, their translation (from a bidirectional translation corpus) and spoken language data (from comparable monolingual corpora of spoken English and Czech), converging evidence is found of the development of discourse functions of the Czech takový which shows an increase in its intersubjectivity, not attested with such , but common with the English type nouns sort, kind , and type . These cross-linguistic parallels are not only relevant for current discussions on intersubjectivity and intersubjectification, but they also call for further research on general patterns of ad-hoc categorization.
{"title":"On similative demonstratives in Czech and English","authors":"Markéta Janebová, Michaela Martinková","doi":"10.1075/lic.00026.jan","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00026.jan","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper is a contrastive corpus-based study of similative demonstratives, a major means of expressing similarity and ad-hoc categorization. It explores the divergence between the Czech demonstrative takový and its English dictionary equivalent such in their “atypical” – extended, or non-phoric – uses. Through the triangulation of comparable fiction texts, their translation (from a bidirectional translation corpus) and spoken language data (from comparable monolingual corpora of spoken English and Czech), converging evidence is found of the development of discourse functions of the Czech takový which shows an increase in its intersubjectivity, not attested with such , but common with the English type nouns sort, kind , and type . These cross-linguistic parallels are not only relevant for current discussions on intersubjectivity and intersubjectification, but they also call for further research on general patterns of ad-hoc categorization.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135830688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper is a corpus-based study of how translation affects the portrayal of emotion concepts. It aims to establish whether there are differences between translated texts and original texts in a given language as to how emotions are expressed and whether emotion conceptualization in the translated texts is closer to that of the source or the target language. To do so, the study focuses on one emotion in a specific language combination: the conceptual domain of anger in German and Spanish. In a first step, analysis of two large reference corpora provides a contrastive description of the concept anger as represented by prototypical emotion lexemes in both languages ( Wut, Zorn and Ärger in German and ira, rabia, enojo in Spanish). Then, the parallel corpus COVALT is used to study three aspects of the expression of anger in Spanish translated texts: conceptual metaphor, physical effects and consequences of the emotion. Analysis of the use of conceptual metaphor shows that both source and target language preferences are present in the target texts. A more marked deviation from target language conventions can be observed in the translation of expressions referring to the physical effects or consequences of anger .
{"title":"Translating emotions","authors":"Ulrike Oster","doi":"10.1075/lic.00027.ost","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00027.ost","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper is a corpus-based study of how translation affects the portrayal of emotion concepts. It aims to establish whether there are differences between translated texts and original texts in a given language as to how emotions are expressed and whether emotion conceptualization in the translated texts is closer to that of the source or the target language. To do so, the study focuses on one emotion in a specific language combination: the conceptual domain of anger in German and Spanish. In a first step, analysis of two large reference corpora provides a contrastive description of the concept anger as represented by prototypical emotion lexemes in both languages ( Wut, Zorn and Ärger in German and ira, rabia, enojo in Spanish). Then, the parallel corpus COVALT is used to study three aspects of the expression of anger in Spanish translated texts: conceptual metaphor, physical effects and consequences of the emotion. Analysis of the use of conceptual metaphor shows that both source and target language preferences are present in the target texts. A more marked deviation from target language conventions can be observed in the translation of expressions referring to the physical effects or consequences of anger .","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135830494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kristel Van Goethem, Muriel Norde, Francesca Masini
Abstract The present study examines the fate of the neoclassical combining form pseudo- in eight European languages, belonging to Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German and Swedish) and Romance (French, Italian, Spanish). In order to gain a better understanding of the synchronic morphological behaviour and productivity of pseudo- words in these languages, we carry out a cross-linguistic corpus analysis and compare the morphological and distributional properties of pseudo- . We also analyse its debonding behaviour and categorical flexibility in the set of languages and correlate this property with its productivity. The results of the corpus study are discussed against the typological background of the so-called Germanic and Romance Sandwiches.
{"title":"The fate of ‘pseudo-’ words","authors":"Kristel Van Goethem, Muriel Norde, Francesca Masini","doi":"10.1075/lic.22003.van","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.22003.van","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present study examines the fate of the neoclassical combining form pseudo- in eight European languages, belonging to Germanic (Danish, Dutch, English, German and Swedish) and Romance (French, Italian, Spanish). In order to gain a better understanding of the synchronic morphological behaviour and productivity of pseudo- words in these languages, we carry out a cross-linguistic corpus analysis and compare the morphological and distributional properties of pseudo- . We also analyse its debonding behaviour and categorical flexibility in the set of languages and correlate this property with its productivity. The results of the corpus study are discussed against the typological background of the so-called Germanic and Romance Sandwiches.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135200058","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The cross-linguistic variation in distribution and meaning of perfect constructions building on have + past participle in Western European languages has been analysed in terms of the aoristic drift , the shift from resultative via perfect to perfective past meaning that takes us from ‘classical’ perfect languages like English to ‘liberal’ perfect languages like French. This paper challenges the (often implicit) assumption that there is a single path along the aoristic drift, resulting in a linear perfect scale. Data coming from translation corpora reveal that the perfect in three ‘intermediate’ languages (Dutch, Catalan and Breton) is sensitive to lexical aspect (state vs. event), narrativity and hodiernal vs. pre-hodiernal past time reference. These meaning ingredients appear in different combinations in the three languages, thereby establishing them as independent dimensions of variation. The conclusion that there are multiple paths along the aoristic drift has implications for the cross-linguistic semantics of tense and aspect.
{"title":"Intermediate perfects","authors":"Eric Corre, Henriëtte de Swart, Teresa M. Xiqués","doi":"10.1075/lic.22008.cor","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.22008.cor","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The cross-linguistic variation in distribution and meaning of perfect constructions building on have + past participle in Western European languages has been analysed in terms of the aoristic drift , the shift from resultative via perfect to perfective past meaning that takes us from ‘classical’ perfect languages like English to ‘liberal’ perfect languages like French. This paper challenges the (often implicit) assumption that there is a single path along the aoristic drift, resulting in a linear perfect scale. Data coming from translation corpora reveal that the perfect in three ‘intermediate’ languages (Dutch, Catalan and Breton) is sensitive to lexical aspect (state vs. event), narrativity and hodiernal vs. pre-hodiernal past time reference. These meaning ingredients appear in different combinations in the three languages, thereby establishing them as independent dimensions of variation. The conclusion that there are multiple paths along the aoristic drift has implications for the cross-linguistic semantics of tense and aspect.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136061567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cross-linguistic research has brought extensive evidence on how languages differ in their categorization of actions and events, pointing out the differences in the semantic categories they establish, their boundaries and their degree of granularity with respect to the variety of events they refer to. Verbs describing breaking events vary in terms of generality or specificity of the action description (e.g., breaking or snapping a twig) or salience of specific semantic components characterising the event (e.g., smash being associated with violent destruction) and the same event can be construed differently within the same language (e.g., crack/break an egg). In this article we set out to explore the semantic boundaries of verbs describing breaking events within and between languages. We propose a new methodology combining corpora and a video ontology, using verb pairs generally regarded as translation equivalents in bilingual dictionaries. The study contributes to research on semantic categorization and verbs correspondences between Italian and English.
{"title":"How did you break that?","authors":"Caterina Cacioli, Paola Vernillo","doi":"10.1075/lic.22004.cac","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.22004.cac","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Cross-linguistic research has brought extensive evidence on how languages differ in their categorization of\u0000 actions and events, pointing out the differences in the semantic categories they establish, their boundaries and their degree of\u0000 granularity with respect to the variety of events they refer to. Verbs describing breaking events vary in terms of generality or\u0000 specificity of the action description (e.g., breaking or snapping a twig) or salience of specific semantic components\u0000 characterising the event (e.g., smash being associated with violent destruction) and the same event can be\u0000 construed differently within the same language (e.g., crack/break an egg). In this article we set out to explore\u0000 the semantic boundaries of verbs describing breaking events within and between languages. We propose a new methodology combining\u0000 corpora and a video ontology, using verb pairs generally regarded as translation equivalents in bilingual dictionaries. The study\u0000 contributes to research on semantic categorization and verbs correspondences between Italian and English.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79021093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article takes a doubly contrastive approach to spoken academic language. On the one hand, it explores genre differences between spoken and written academic English and French; on the other, it considers divergences between spoken academic discourse in the two languages. The corpora used for this purpose were purpose-built on the basis of YouTube video subtitles and other sources. The focus of attention is on keywords and key metadiscursive routines. The results suggest that, somewhat counterintuitively, the distance between academic speech and writing is smaller in French than it is in English, so that written routines can be more easily transferred to speech in French. French written and spoken discourse shows a greater degree of abstraction and self-referentiality than is the case in English. The article selectively illustrates that both French and English have a distinct set of spoken routines that are not used in writing; these need to be described and recorded in lexicographic resources to make them available for teachers and learners.
{"title":"This deserves a brief mention","authors":"D. Siepmann","doi":"10.1075/lic.21004.sie","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.21004.sie","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article takes a doubly contrastive approach to spoken academic language. On the one hand, it explores genre\u0000 differences between spoken and written academic English and French; on the other, it considers divergences between spoken academic\u0000 discourse in the two languages. The corpora used for this purpose were purpose-built on the basis of YouTube video subtitles and\u0000 other sources. The focus of attention is on keywords and key metadiscursive routines. The results suggest that, somewhat\u0000 counterintuitively, the distance between academic speech and writing is smaller in French than it is in English, so that written\u0000 routines can be more easily transferred to speech in French. French written and spoken discourse shows a greater degree of\u0000 abstraction and self-referentiality than is the case in English. The article selectively illustrates that both French and English\u0000 have a distinct set of spoken routines that are not used in writing; these need to be described and recorded in lexicographic\u0000 resources to make them available for teachers and learners.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84407474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper revisits the translational practices of Dominican missionaries who worked in multilingual settings in the Guatemalan highlands in the colonial period. It is argued that the missionaries developed the emerging ideas of European Renaissance linguistics and applied methods of contrastive linguistics to indigenous languages long before this discipline came into being. The main argument derives from an 18th-century collection of missionary writings in Q’eqchi’ and Poqomchi’, two Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala. An uncommon phrase-by-phrase alignment of bilingual texts allows for the assumption that a contrastive approach to genetically related languages could be the underlying principle in language learning and translation at that time.
{"title":"Pioneers of contrastive linguistics","authors":"I. Vinogradov","doi":"10.1075/lic.21013.vin","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.21013.vin","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper revisits the translational practices of Dominican missionaries who worked in multilingual settings in\u0000 the Guatemalan highlands in the colonial period. It is argued that the missionaries developed the emerging ideas of European\u0000 Renaissance linguistics and applied methods of contrastive linguistics to indigenous languages long before this discipline came\u0000 into being. The main argument derives from an 18th-century collection of missionary writings in Q’eqchi’ and Poqomchi’, two Mayan\u0000 languages spoken in Guatemala. An uncommon phrase-by-phrase alignment of bilingual texts allows for the assumption that a\u0000 contrastive approach to genetically related languages could be the underlying principle in language learning and translation at\u0000 that time.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84069036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The paper addresses the employment of body part nouns in the creation of phraseological expressions of some European languages, a topic at the crossroads of language, cognition and culture. In particular, the contrastive analysis explores the common linguistic representation of meanings through body part metaphorical expressions in Italian, French, Spanish and English. While several efforts to gauge the existence of a “European linguistic type” (cf. Haspelmath, 2001) have been largely devoted to the study of grammatical structures, a systematic account of the lexical component of the major European languages has not been attempted yet. Among the lexical units, phraseological expressions (e.g. compounds, multiword units, idiomatic expressions, as well as light verb and light noun constructions) represent a relevant ground to inquire into, since they are the most transparent and authentic vehicle of common ideas and experiences gradually rooted in European communicative realities.
{"title":"Body part metaphors in phraseological expressions","authors":"Vittorio Ganfi, Valentina Piunno, L. Mereu","doi":"10.1075/lic.21006.gan","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.21006.gan","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The paper addresses the employment of body part nouns in the creation of phraseological expressions of some\u0000 European languages, a topic at the crossroads of language, cognition and culture. In particular, the contrastive analysis explores\u0000 the common linguistic representation of meanings through body part metaphorical expressions in Italian, French, Spanish and\u0000 English. While several efforts to gauge the existence of a “European linguistic type” (cf. Haspelmath, 2001) have been largely devoted to the study of grammatical structures, a systematic account of the\u0000 lexical component of the major European languages has not been attempted yet. Among the lexical units, phraseological expressions\u0000 (e.g. compounds, multiword units, idiomatic expressions, as well as light verb and light noun constructions) represent a relevant\u0000 ground to inquire into, since they are the most transparent and authentic vehicle of common ideas and experiences gradually rooted\u0000 in European communicative realities.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89570456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
For years, the study of spoken languages, on the basis of written and then also oral productions, was the only way to investigate the human language capacity. As an introduction to this first volume of Languages in Contrast devoted to the comparison of spoken and signed languages, we propose to look at the reasons for the late emergence of the consideration of signed languages and multimodality in language studies. Next, the main stages of the history of sign language research are summarized. We highlight the benefits of studying cross-modal and multimodal data, as opposed to the isolated investigation of signed or spoken languages, and point out the remaining methodological obstacles to this approach. This contextualization prefaces the presentation of the outline of the volume.
{"title":"Contrasting signed and spoken languages","authors":"Sílvia Gabarró-López, L. Meurant","doi":"10.1075/lic.00024.gab","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00024.gab","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 For years, the study of spoken languages, on the basis of written and then also oral productions, was the only way\u0000 to investigate the human language capacity. As an introduction to this first volume of Languages in Contrast\u0000 devoted to the comparison of spoken and signed languages, we propose to look at the reasons for the late emergence of the\u0000 consideration of signed languages and multimodality in language studies. Next, the main stages of the history of sign language\u0000 research are summarized. We highlight the benefits of studying cross-modal and multimodal data, as opposed to the isolated\u0000 investigation of signed or spoken languages, and point out the remaining methodological obstacles to this approach. This\u0000 contextualization prefaces the presentation of the outline of the volume.","PeriodicalId":43502,"journal":{"name":"Languages in Contrast","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2022-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73827801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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